Investment Q&A

Q: We have( for me) a quite large sum of money invested in managed products. Any new money is going into Canadian equities ( 30%) following your portfolios and a mix of ETF roughly
30% USA at 10% SPY, 10% VIG, 10%IWO
30% International currently VE
10% emerging currently VEE
( I know "where is your fixed income" you ask, my spouse has a federal government pension which I count as our fixed income)
To date these sums are relatively small. As I start to shift large sums from our managed products to my self managed portfolio ( following the above ratios) I am ok with the mix in the USA spread to 3 etfs run by 3 different companies. With the international and emerging I am a bit concerned about putting all that cash with one fund (and company). Is this concern silly or should I have some diversification within my ETF holdings ( both in terms of funds and companies). For example instead of having 30% of my holdings in VE I would split it 15% VE and 15% XEF. So I guess the short questions are:

1. What is the max an investor should have in any one ETF( %)
2. What is the max an investor should have with any one company ( $ or %)

Q: Gentlemen, Good Morning,
HMOP, actively managed ETF that seeks federal tax-exempt income by investing in municipal securities with 2.9% distribution and 0.29% fees. Is it good for income on a taxable account ?
Other alternative ?
Thanks Regards

Q: A year ago a member asked about BL.UN. You had suggested RBOT ETF. They both have a MER of 0.9%. I think BL.UN is a CEF. They have quite different holdings. I am looking for a Canadian Fund or ETF with Hi TEch holdings in my RRIF. The top holding of BL.UN seemed to fit. I appreciate your view on this.

Q: Hi,
I'm looking for advice to build a TFSA portfolio. It can be all stock, all ETFs or a combination of both. Probably, no more than 8-10 securities. I am more of an income oriented investor with a time horizon of 4-5 years.
Thank you

Q: Do you like any NASDAC based etfs for sale in Canada?

Q: I was surprised to see that BAM outperformed VFV over 5 years and longer, especially noticeable over the past 5 years. Which was less volatile over these periods and how do you measure volatility?

Q: I asked a question earlier about international exposure in US dollars. At that time you said VEA would work. I am just getting ready to put your advice into practice at the moment but I notice that VEA holds 8.7% Canadian. According to your analytics program, I really have to reduce my Canadian exposure and so was wondering whether there was another all world etf with no Canadian. Perhaps, though, 8.7 % is not that bad.
thanks

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan and team,
I have $45K in Canadian locked in fund. I can't withdraw for at least 20 years. I am looking to grow my fund by mainly investing in ETF and some growth stocks. Can you please suggest diversify list of ETF ( Canadian, US and International)and stocks with sugested percentage for such a time horizon. I don't mind short term market functions.
Thanks,

Q: Hi 5i,
Regarding the Van Eyk MOAT ETF which you featured in your 5 from 5i, I notice that there have been 2 questions on this fund. On the earliest question from 2017, I believe, you say that you find it "interesting". And then, by 2019, I think, it is referred to as "gimmicky".
In looking at MOAT I see the holdings are all pretty decent and would probably make respectable holdings on their own.
My questions are:
1.) Would you consider this a suitable investment for a Balanced to Conservative (read retired) investor?
2.) What is your current consensus on this ETF?
For this answer, it might help to know that my U.S. ETF's consist of the following:
EMB (global bond)
VIG (U.S. dividend appreciation)
VRP (U.S. variable rate preferred)
I am also underweight a number of the sectors in which the majority of MOAT holdings fall as well as being underweight the U.S. overall.
I would appreciate any insight you may have about this fund and its potential suitability.
As always - a huge "Thanks"!!!
Cheers,
Mike

Q: Hello, question about ZBK’s portfolio holding, Equally weight 5.5 percent for each of 19 banks, in the case of BBT and STI merger was completely, what would happen to ZBK’s portfolio? Thanks

Q: Good morning I have initiated a part of my portfolio to u.s. stocks and I have GOOG, BABA, AVGO, GE, FDX and am looking at SYK ACN AND MCO also I have positions in VGT and VTI. On the income side I hold good Canadian dividend companies that combined with CPP/OAS the dividends cover all of our living and travelling expenses. So, I diverted most of the growth stocks from your balanced fund into this u.s. side. My question is I still have about 20% cash can you recommend additional u.s. companies that I could look at along with the above. Or, should I just put the cash into the two ETFs. Thank you for the great service as you have changed how I invest and look at my own portfolio and time frame....thanks...gene

Q: Please provide your recommendation for a cyber security ETF. Thank-you.

Q: Can you recommend a Canadian dollar etf for gold and a few Canadian stocks that would benefit from an appreciation in gold prices? Thank you.

Q: BUYING PROTECTION: WHEN to buy? WHAT TO BUY?
From time to time (especially today on CNBC) I am hearing Traders talk about buying protection with volatility in the US at ~16 .... vs much higher last week.
I assume this advice is also linked to the fact that US markets have just finished a “best ever” kind of bounce after last weeks debacle.

Does 5i agree with that strategy?
Would you be inclined to do this automatically when VOL drops to a specific level? If so, what level?
What ETF(s) would you suggest since playing options is not my game?
Would there be a rule of thumb as to how long to hold that “protection” in place?

Thanks for helping to educate me in this area.

Q: What investments would you recommend for a teenager with $10,000to invest for long term.
Thank you Drummond

Q: Hi there,

Just some follow up questions on these two etfs. Neither has done well over the last several years in terms of growth, so i suspect one buys these for income only. If so, wouldn't one just buy the one with highest dividend? if you had to pick only one preferred ETF which one would it be and if not one of these 2 which one and why?

Q: Which of these stocks do you prefer and why?
Thank you,
Jim

Q: I have this in my PA but because it does not trade on the TSX there is no daily price and it looked like I lost the full amount invested which is incorrect. Any idea of when the stock will have the daily price on the PA?
Thanks

Q: Could you recommend an etf that holds few or no resets. Greetings, Peter.

Q: On June 10 you answered a question on portfolio weights,saying that you would generally consider a good portfolio as having 25 stocks, making 4 percent a full position. How would etf’s figure into this scenario? I know that you have often said that one should have at least a 5percent position in an etf. Is that suggestion for a portfolio of 25 stocks?
Thanks again for the excellent site